August 12, 2003      STAMFORD, CT     

Robert L. Muller, Jr., president of Fenrir Industries, Inc. (www.fenrir.com) announced today he had received notice today from The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that his patent filing for a new soft, flexible and lightweight armor material has been received and is under review.

Muller's invention replaces the heavy, bulky and rigid plates now used by law enforcement and the military for protection from high powered rifle rounds, such as those expended by the widely used AK-47 assault rifle. It employs a material no more costly or bulky than the lightweight vests worn daily by police around the world that provide protection only from handgun bullets.

Although technical details cannot be released at this time, the material is purportedly able to capture the high powered rifle round described by the U.S. Department of Justice - National Institute of Justice's Specification NIJ 0108.01, "Ballistic Resistant Protective Materials" for qualification to Level III protection. NIJ 0108.01 is commonly considered the "shield" specification while a similar specification, NIJ0101.04, "Ballistic Resistance of Personal Body Armor" is considered the specification for "body" or "wearable" armor.

"There's going to be a lot of experts slapping their foreheads in dumbfounded surprise when details of the invention are made known." says Muller. "I am fully aware that this is the 'Holy Grail' of armor, and as such, this announcement will be very hard to believe for people in the industry. But the invention is really that simple in concept. Maybe that's why it hasn't been thought of before."

Every cop remembers the infamous 1997 North Hollywood Bank of America shoot-out, where the armed gunmen wore full body armor capable of stopping the rounds shot by police, while shooting the high powered rounds the officers' soft body armor could not stop. More recently, there's been widespread coverage of the 16 pound armor (the Point Blank Interceptor vest with Simula ceramic plates) used by the military in Iraq to stop the rounds.

"This material protects the user from the deadly and highly penetrable 7.62mm (.308 caliber) round shot by the AK-47, that is, Level III, at the weight, cost and comfort now employed by tactical officers to stop all handgun rounds, or Level IIIA," Muller explains, "and it eliminates the need for the heavy, rigid plates used by our fighting men and women without removing an ounce of protection."

NIJ0108.01 Level III is considered to also include protection from the 5.56mm (.223 caliber), 12 Ga and all lesser rounds such as handgun rounds, 00 Buckshot and .22 long rifle.

"We shot hand-made/prototype material under field (non-laboratory) conditions with commercial .308 caliber rounds at 16 feet outside on a nice summer day. We were unable at the time to use chronographs for speed measurements or exactly weigh the projectile as required by spec, but in all functionality the testing met the '08' spec," Muller said. Because there was no damage to the 0.020" witness plate, Muller confidently expects to also be able to meet the Level III blunt trauma requirement of the body armor specification, NIJ 0101.04.

In a study published last October, Business Communications Company, Inc., of Norwalk, CT, projected 10% average annual growth rates in sales of body armor from the $133MM baseline in 2001. Muller expects to capture a significant portion of the fabric supplied to this market since the invention is scalable to all protection levels. Moreover, since the fabric is also capable of being pre- and impregnated and thermoset into hard armor as is done presently with woven-fiber ballistic material, Muller expects sales to vehicle, aircraft, shield, structural and other manufacturers within the growing $500,000,000 annual armor industry.

The company and its distribution partner, Thor Defense, Inc. (www.thordefense.com) have already been approached by armor manufacturers expressing interest in exclusive licenses, and are presently seeking vendor and venture partners to tool for large volume production and product refinements before a planned February 2004 market entry.

Thor Defense, Inc., is a developer and global distributor of tactical and special operations equipment located in Downers Grove, IL. Complete company and product information can be found at its web site at http://www.thordefense.com

Fenrir Industries, Inc., is a developer, manufacturer and global supplier of law enforcement, public safety, and military equipment located in Stamford CT. Complete company and product information can be found at its web site at http://www.fenrir.com